


Down in the Dumpsters

by c00nt



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: And I think the world could always use more silly, Don't you?, F/F, This is just a silly little one-shot because I fucking love this trope, This is the WHAT DID WE DO LAST NIGHT? au y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 15:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15146306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00nt/pseuds/c00nt
Summary: Kara wakes up in a dumpster with no cape, only one boot, and absolutely no memory of how she got there. With Alex's grudging help, the cape-less heroine must retrace her steps all over National City and somehow recover the missing items with as much tact as her throbbing headache affords her.





	Down in the Dumpsters

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't expect a real plot.

“Kara. Kara? _Kara!”_

Kara’s eyes opened and watered immediately at the concentrated beam of white light shining down at her. 

“H’llo?” she croaked. 

“God! Thank _God,_ you’re awake,” said the beam of light, the condescension somehow sounding suspiciously familiar. “I’ve been looking all over for you! What the _hell_ happened?” 

Kara blinked and rubbed at her face. She tried to focus on the question, but all her thoughts seemed to be struggling through a dense, viscous fog made out of heavy molasses, and the only thing she could focus on was how everything around her just _stank_ like straight-up…

“Hey.” Kara sat up despite her throbbing headache and all her joints protesting the movement. “Am I in a dumpster?” 

A heavy sigh. “Yes.” Then, “You need help?” 

Kara could have used the help, but of course no one could actually lift the Kryptonian out of the dumpster, given her incredibly dense superhuman frame. Eventually, Kara just had to scramble over the edge  with great difficulty, landing with an emphatic _Oof!_ against the hard gravel. 

“Jesus, Kara…” Alex rushed forward, putting her hands to Kara’s forehead and throat to check her vitals, which Kara only tolerated because lifting her arm in protest felt like an impossible task. “How are you feeling?” 

“Like…” Kara took a quick self-catalogue. “Hungover, I think…? What happened?” 

“That’s _my_ line,” Alex growled, hands now sifting through the Supergirl suit. “You’ve been AWOL for practically the entire day. Where’s your cape?” 

Kara shot a glance over her shoulder. “Hm.” Then she looked down at her feet, saw a set of bare toes wiggling back at her. “I’m also missing a boot.” 

Alex forced a short breath through her nostrils. “Demos, check the dumpster for the cape and boot.” 

“What? Why me?” the agent protested. 

“Because I ordered _you,”_ Alex said, voice like steel. 

All the other agents hurried to busy themselves securing the perimeter while Demos dropped his gear and heaved himself headfirst into the dumpster. After five minutes of rummaging, he announced that it was empty. 

“Try _harder,”_ Alex ordered. 

Indistinct swearing, then ten more minutes of rummaging, but to no avail. All Kara had to offer her sister was a guilty half-smile. 

“Dammit, Kara…” Alex pushed her hair back with a frustrated sigh. “Okay. What do you remember?” 

Kara racked her brain. “Uh… Fighting the M’nastian. Some yellow smoke? It was still bright out then though…” 

“Yeah, so that was about _eight_ hours ago,” Alex said. “From what we could tell, that yellow smoke was a concentrated blast of alien toxins. It blew out your comms and bio-sensors, then you just disappeared.” 

“And you couldn’t find me until now?” 

“Yeah, well, you’d be surprised at how difficult it is to locate a Kryptonian in a big city when they _don’t_ want to be found,” Alex snapped. “And you mostly kept to yourself, so the wreckage was minimal, which made you even _harder_ to track.”

Kara studied her surroundings: a dark alleyway, somewhere downtown if the unfamiliar noises filtering through were anything to go by. Her incomplete Supergirl get-up along with the team of armed DEO agents felt more out of place than ever. She stared down at her one bare foot in contemplation while Alex paced more and more aggressively around the alleyway… until a distant buzzing drew Kara’s attention. 

“Your shoe is vibrating,” Kara informed Alex. 

“Yeah, it’s my phone,” Alex said shortly, not even pausing in her steps. 

“… Are you going to get it?” 

“No, it’s probably just Sam. She’s been calling on and off all afternoon.” Alex’s tone was much too strained to come across as casual. 

“Sam?” Kara frowned. “Why would Sam be calling you?” 

“I don’t know!” Alex hissed, cheeks slightly pink. “I didn’t stop to check because I was kinda busy ripping the city apart looking for you!” 

“Jeez Louise, _okay.”_ Kara gingerly got to her feet. “We obviously just need to retrace my steps and we’ll figure out where my things are. No problem.” 

Alex’s gaze turned downright murderous. “All right, and how do you propose we do that? This was the least destructive you’ve been in a long, long time, so there’s no clearcut path of carnage and debris to follow.” 

Kara gave a half-shrug and scratched at her arm self-consciously, the watch on her wrist catching against her suit as she moved. “Huh. Wait.” She held her arm up to the moonlight. “This isn’t mine.”

It was a simple wristwatch, though Kara’s super ears were picking up some extra mechanics underneath the usual ticking and rotating gears. Plus, the design looked so familiar and…

“Oh!” Kara exclaimed. “This is James’s signal watch! The one that Clark gave him for emergencies!” 

“So, why is it on your wrist?” Alex asked. 

Kara frowned down at the watch again. “Oh, good question.”

“Isn’t it?” Alex retorted, throwing up her hands. “Why don’t we go _ask_ him then?” She turned on her heel and started marching down the alley. 

“W-wait, like this?” Kara sputtered, waving her arms. “Shouldn’t I change into some civilian clothes first?” 

“Great idea!” Alex said in a mockingly sweet tone. “Do you happen to have any on you?” 

Kara pursed her lips as nothing readily came to mind. “Um.” 

“Great! So, let’s go.” 

Kara groaned. “Alex, I can’t go around National City like _this._ It’s _embarrassing.”_

They both looked down at her bare toes, ever so prominent against the black gravel. Alex let a hand drag down her face with a pained sigh.

“Demos, give her your sock.” 

“What?” the agent protested from the corner where he was busy trying to brush rotten food off his pants. “Why?”

_“Supergirl needs your help, agent!”_

With grumbles under his breath that only Kara had to pretend not to hear, Agent Demos dropped to one knee and got to yanking on his boot. 

//

Twenty minutes later, the other agents had all been dismissed and Kara was standing outside James’s apartment alongside a still very much grumpy Alex. Kara felt a little ridiculous with Alex’s spare leather jacket over her Supergirl suit and one over-the-knee sock adorned with dancing reindeer—because apparently, Demos was behind on his laundry—but she dared not complain. Alex was really _that_ grumpy. 

Alex rapped on the door harder than necessary and within seconds, James was peering down at them both. 

“Oh. Hi. Again.” He offered a sweet smile that Alex ignored and Kara promptly returned. “What brings you back here?” 

Kara and Alex exchanged a look, respectively nervous and exasperated. 

“So… I was here tonight,” Kara said slowly. 

James tilted his head and frowned. “Yes…?” 

“How long ago was that?” Alex asked.

“It was around three o’clock, so like… five hours ago?” James crossed his arms, appearing more confused than ever. “What’s going on here?” 

“Maybe we should come inside first,” Alex said with sigh, and James nodded, quickly stepping out of the way. “Okay, so earlier today—”

“My boot!” Kara exclaimed, immediately pushing past Alex and into the apartment. Dropping to her knees, she skidded into the living room and lifted an entire couch with one hand. And lo and behold, the red boot was just sitting right there on the floor. Kara retrieved it with glee before slipping it on over the Christmas sock. 

“I didn’t even know that you had left that there,” James said incredulously. “Damn, you must have been really out of it.” 

“No sign of my cape though,” Kara declared after sweeping the apartment with a squinted gaze. “Shoot. I must have left it somewhere else.” 

“You lost your cape?” 

Alex abruptly cleared her throat, an icy glare cutting off any other potential outbursts. “Like I was _saying,”_ she said, “Kara was hit with a blast of alien gas that made her black out for most of the day and we’re trying to retrace her steps.” 

“Oh.” James’s face fell. “Does that mean that you didn’t mean any of things you said?” 

Kara froze with her jaw slightly open. She shot a glance at Alex, but her sister was looking pointedly in the opposite direction, which was not at all helpful. “Uh… What exactly did I say?”

James sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “Well, we just talked about the whole Guardian thing and how you’ve come to respect this new chapter of my life and that you were sorry for taking so long to get here…”

Kara blinked a few times, carefully considering the words attributed to her, and… none of them rang false to her. In fact, they seemed to have been lifted straight from the back of her head, only articulated and out in the open. 

“But James, that _is_ how I feel about this,” Kara said, reaching out to take his hand. “I know I reacted very poorly when you first told me, but really, I was just worried for your safety. But I know you can take care of yourself, so I’m sorry that it took so long for me to apologize to you. And that _this_ was the way you had to hear it.” 

James promptly enveloped Kara in a rough hug, and Kara squeezed back with a smile. 

“You know I’m sorry too, right?” James said. “For keeping it a secret from you?”

“Yeah, I know.” 

“But, um, can I have my watch back?” 

“Oh! Right!” Kara unlatched the item in question and handed it over. “Why’d you give this to me in the first place anyway?”

“I didn’t,” James said with a laugh. “You took it, saying you were taking off the training wheels. And that this was your way of proving just how much you believed in this ‘heroic journey' of mine. Then you knocked over a lamp on your way out and, _wow!,_ I _really_ should have known something was up.” 

“You _really_ should have,” Alex muttered under her breath while Kara laughed, a crinkle forming out of embarrassment. 

“You sure you want that back?” Kara asked, pointing at the watch. 

“Are you kidding me?” James said, a familiar twinkle in his eye. “Guardian’s tough, but he’s no Supergirl. I’m always going to need you, Kara.” 

They exchanged one last hug, grateful and relaxed. 

“Great!” Alex finally cut in. “Now that _that’s_ over and done with, we still need to figure out where you left—” Her own boot was vibrating again. “Dammit.” She fumbled for her phone with an exasperated sigh. “Sam. _Again_. Maybe I should just turn this off for the night…” 

“No, wait!” Kara said, perking up all of sudden. “You should answer it.” 

_“… Why?”_

“Because I’m pretty sure that that’s where we’re going to find my cape.” 

“Oh, for the love of…” Alex turned away and took the call, her voice automatically settling into a considerably more friendly lilt. “Hey, Sam! Sorry I haven’t been picking up. Work’s been a nightmare. Is everything okay?” 

Kara and James not so subtly exchanged an amused look at the abrupt change in demeanor and tone. 

“Uh-huh,” Alex continued. “Oh, she _did,_ did she?” She gave Kara a meaningful look. “Her cape? Wow… Okay. No problem. Be right there!” 

//

“Alex!” Sam exclaimed, opening the door with a radiant smile. “… And Supergirl. You’re here too.” The smile didn’t disappear, only softened with slight confusion. “Well, come on in.” 

“Thank you for inviting us into your home,” Kara said, shoulders already squared as Supergirl. She could almost hear Alex's eyes rolling. “I heard that you may have something of mine?”

“You mean the cape you left with us?” 

“Left? As in on purpose?” Kara asked. 

“I would assume so…” Sam said with an uncertain frown.

“Right! I did. Because, well, because…” And Kara really shouldn’t have started that sentence before she knew where she was going with it.

“Well, Ruby fell asleep,” Sam started explaining to Alex, thankfully glossing over Kara’s awkward mouth shuffle. “And Supergirl thought that she looked cold and tucked her in with her cape. I tried to tell her that it wasn’t necessary, but Supergirl insisted and flew out of here before I could say anything else.” 

“Oh, is that right?” Alex said with calculated nonchalance. She turned her face back to Kara, safe from Sam’s eyes, to flash her a venomous glare. “How sweet of her.” 

“That’s me,” Kara said, trying to sound breezy. “National City’s resident sweet…iepie?” 

Alex rolled her eyes one last time before turning back to Sam. “But yeah, we’re going to need that back.” 

“Oh, of course,” Sam said. “That’s why I was trying to contact you. To get in touch with Supergirl.” She continued her explanation as she retrieved the cape, folded neatly into a tight square. “You’re the closest person to her that I could think of. Except maybe Kara. But it was already kinda late and I knew that _you’d_ already be up, so…” 

Kara shrugged off the leather jacket, tossing it back to a disgruntled Alex. “Thank you, Miss Arias. I really do feel naked without this…” she said, promptly re-attaching the cape.

“Well, I wasn’t going to keep it,” Sam joked. 

“Anyway, thanks again,” Alex said, offering a quick smile. “But we should probably get going…” 

“Wait, hold on!” Sam went for Alex’s elbow, tugging slightly, her grip gentle but firm. “There was actually another reason why I had called you…” She pressed her lips into a line, shooting Kara a questioning glance. Kara tried not to stare back too blankly. “Sorry. I was just kinda expecting to do this alone… But I mean, _you_ were the one to tell me to go for it, so I guess it makes sense that you’re here too?” 

Kara blinked only once. “Yup. Of course.” 

But apparently that was approval enough because Sam whirled back around to Alex to say, “Do you want to get dinner with me sometime?” 

Alex’s posture stiffened at once, her pulse pounding loudly in Kara’s ears. “… Excuse me?” 

“Dinner. With me,” Sam added with a grin. “Full disclosure: I’m asking you out on a date.” 

“Me,” Alex said, swallowing hard. “You’re asking _me.”_

“Yes!” Sam exclaimed. “There’s something here between us and I want to explore it because I think it could be really, _really_ good if we just gave it a shot.” She waved a hand toward Kara. “Even Supergirl agrees.” 

Schooling her expression into a strained smile, Alex looked back at Kara. “She… does?” 

Kara just smiled back, despite her shock. “Yes? Apparently? Er. Definitely… Yup.” 

But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Ruby already _adored_ Alex, and there’s no denying how easily she and Sam had taken to each other. Sam was lively in social situations where Alex could be surly, but she was also tough enough to handle Alex in the rare moments when she was soft. It was perhaps a little too soon after Maggie, but wasn’t there a lesbian stereotype they could just attribute that to? 

“Yes,” Alex said finally, an uncharacteristic blush blooming in her cheeks. “To dinner and yeah… Good idea.” 

“Great,” Sam said, grinning wide. “I’ll text you the details tomorrow.” 

“Yup, and I’ll text you… back. Right back.” Alex gave a few vague gestures with one hand and nodded. 

And Kara wanted to groan at how painful it all was, but Sam didn’t seem put off by the verbal inelegance. Instead, she just leaned in and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to Alex’s cheek, which only worsened the already vibrant blush.

“Great, so that’s settled,” Sam said. She smiled gratefully at Kara. “You were right. I _do_ feel so much better.”

“Yes, well, I always give out the best advice,” Kara said. 

“Don’t push it,” Alex mumbled just under her breath, giddy smile somehow still intact. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” Sam said, shaking her head and turning her whole body back to face Kara. “How did your thing go?” 

“My… thing?” Kara asked, brow crinkling. 

“Yeah, you said that there was someone you’ve meaning to confess something to…” Sam shrugged and nodded toward the windows. “Then you blew out of here without another word.” 

“Someone to… confess something to…” Kara slowly repeated to herself, racking her brain. “Yeah, I have no idea wha— _oh, crap.”_ Her eyes widened in alarm. “I gotta—I gotta go!”

“Wait, Supergirl!” Alex tried to grab Kara’s arm, but she was already flinging herself out the very same windows she had flown out through only hours ago. 

She hurtled toward the L-Corp tower in a red-and-blue blur, both relieved and anxious to see that the office on the top floor still had its lights on. In no time, Kara was running through the balcony doorway, just narrowly avoiding stepping on her own cape as she did so. 

“Miss Luthor!” Kara all but screamed at the top of her lungs. “ _What did—!”_ She skidded to a stop at the desk, remembering herself all at once. “I… er, good evening.” 

Lena just calmly placed her tablet on the desk and leaned back in her chair, fingers steepled before her. Slowly, she spared Kara an amused eyebrow quirk. “Supergirl. Back so soon?” 

And those very words just confirmed what Kara had already known, rendering her stomach both upset and sinking. Now, if she could just very sneakily determine the contents of their earlier conversation...

“You’re here about our earlier conversation, aren’t you?” Lena said, and Kara could almost fall over in relief. 

_“Yes._ Exactly. That’s _exactly_ what I wanted to talk about.” 

“All right,” Lena said, raising her chin. “You can start.” 

Kara could offer only an extended blank stare, mouth opening and closing of its own accord. But Lena just continued to look up at her expectantly, somehow without an ounce of irritation despite the prolonged silence. 

“Um. It was… a… good one?” Kara finally managed to get out. 

“You’re asking _me?”_

“Yes! Wait, _no…_ Well…” Kara tried not to sigh in frustration. “I was hoping to get your opinion on something and… I’m sorry. I’ve been having a really off day today, and this was definitely a terrible idea, and I should probably leave before I make things worse and…” That's when Kara noticed the tiny grin on Lena’s face. “… you’re smiling at me. Is something funny or…?”

“I know,” Lena said simply.

Kara’s fingers clenched together so hard that she could almost hear the bones groaning in protest. “You know… what?” 

Lena sighed, but a small smile broke through. “I know you don’t remember anything.”

“You—you do?” Kara said, gaping. 

“Supergirl. Earlier this afternoon, you were hit with an extremely high dose of M’nastian gas, which while deadly to humans, only suppress Kryptonian frontal lobes and hippocampi.” 

“… Right.” 

“In other words, your inhibitions were lowered and your recollection of the events from the past several hours will remain spotty at best,” Lena explained with a flourish. “All of which I’ve already explained to you only a few short hours ago, but of course, you don’t remember.”

“Of course,” Kara parroted, making a mental note to get Winn to update their alien database with this new information. “But hang on, my inhibitions were lowered? That means I could have hurt someone. Rao, the last time that happened, it was a complete disaster.” 

“The Red Kryptonite incident.” Lena nodded gravely. “This wasn’t as serious as that, I assure you. Not… comparably anyway.” She cleared her throat, sat up straighter. “It’s likely that you mostly did things that you have been meaning to do, though simply put off for the moment for some reason or another.” 

Kara thought back to the rehashed conversations that she had had with James and Sam, and it seemed to ring true enough. “So, there wasn’t even the _slightest_ chance of mass carnage?” 

“No, Supergirl. Not this time,” Lena said with a cheeky smile. 

“Well, _that’s_ a relief,” Kara said, barely keeping herself from slumping in relief. “Though I should probably still apologize for flying into your office like this. Twice in one day even.” 

“Not at all,” Lena said, “I can always make time for my favorite superhero.” 

Kara willed herself not to blush, the tone in Lena’s voice reminding her of exactly _why_ she'd been so worried about having spoken to Lena in the first place. “So…” Kara cleared her throat. “Would it be… May I ask what we talked about?” 

“Certainly.” And though Lena’s expression stayed calm and cool, her heart-rate picked up ever so slightly. Interesting. “Well, you were actually here on behalf of a mutual friend of ours.” 

“I was…?”

“Yes, you— _well,_ you…” Lena faltered for the first time since Kara’s untimely arrival. “You asked _me…_ if I thought Kara Danvers was cute.” 

Kara’s stomach dropped heavily, practically smashing straight through the solid floor beneath her recently recovered boot. “Oh.” 

“Yes.” Lena laughed then, nervous and slightly blushing. “It was a bit of a relief actually. Because with the way you were acting, I was almost afraid that _you_ were going to ask me out on a date or something.”

“Me?” Kara said, laugh nigh hysterical. “Th-that’s ridiculous. I would _never.”_ Lena raised a single eyebrow and Kara had to backtrack in double-time with wide eyes. “Not that you’re not attractive! Because you’re very— _wow?_ You’d be perfect for someone who is, you know, _not_ me.” 

“You mean like Kara Danvers?” 

Kara fought everything in her mind, body, and Rao-given soul to not react. “That’s… entirely up to you.” 

Lena drummed her fingers on her desk a few times. “I don’t have many friends, Supergirl.” 

Immediately sensing a subtle but clear shift in mood, Kara quickly squared her shoulders and prepared herself for more. 

“Say that I was to go for it…” Lena continued, eyes laser-focused on her own hand. “Ask Kara out.” 

The following pause was so deafening that Kara was forced to prompt Lena, “Yes?” 

Lena just sighed and rubbed her eyes, and suddenly the signs of weariness seemed all too noticeable. The dark circles that even the most expensive coverup couldn’t quite hide, the tiny wisps of hair that had strayed from her bun, green eyes dull and exhausted. 

“Why would I risk such an important friendship—one of the most rewarding that I’ve had in a very long time—for… _that.”_ She waved her hand in an aimless gesture. “What Kara and I have is too important for that. _Kara’s_ too important to me for that.” 

Her last words were uttered with such an air of finality that it floored Kara. And she knew that she shouldn’t overstep her bounds, that she had already done too much, and that Supergirl should _not_ be so invested in Kara Danvers’s affairs. But for once, Kara couldn’t help but want to indulge her selfishness. She could just blame it on the lowered inhibitions later. 

“That’s completely reasonable, Miss Luthor,” Kara said. “But something tells me that Kara wouldn’t see it that way.” 

“Oh no..?”

“Of course not. There will always be things that are worth the risk,” Kara said simply. 

Lena’s stare, green and relentless, bored into Kara’s eyes. But Supergirl didn’t back down. She was starting to get light-headed from having not eaten all day, her throbbing headache was coming back around her temples, and she was probably breaching countless social boundaries. But Kara needed Lena to get it. 

That to _her,_ Lena would _definitely_ be worth the risk. 

“But really, I’m not the one you should be discussing this with,” Kara said, finally breaking the silence. 

Lena shook her head slightly, laughter soft though uncertain. “Of course. You’re a superhero. So, why on Earth am I seeking relationship advice from you in the first place?” She smirked a little. “Though to be fair, you _did_ bring it up first.” 

“True. Again, I need to apologize for my behavior earlier,” Kara said with a sigh. “I’m so sorry for barging in on you like that. And then doing it again just now.”

“No, I’m glad it happened,” Lena assured her. “It… cleared a few things up for me.” 

“Well, good!” Kara exhaled a short laugh. “All right, I should head out. My colleagues are probably re-combing the city looking for me.”

“Thank you, Supergirl,” Lena said, inclining her head. “I think I’ll actually try bringing it up with Kara tomorrow.” 

With her stomach swooping dangerously and giddy, Kara couldn’t help but flash the brightest of all grins. “Then I wish you all the luck, Miss Luthor.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.” 

With one last smile, Kara stepped outside, already prepared to jump off the balcony when Lena’s voice called her right back. 

“Wait, Supergirl. You actually left something with me when you dropped by earlier.” 

Kara stifled a groan as she strode back into the office, mentally cataloguing her Supergirl gear, wondering what on Earth she could have possibly missed. “Of course I did. This is so embarrassing. I had already misplaced my cape and a boot, so of _course_ I…” She trailed off as she caught sight of the object in the palm of Lena’s outstretched hand. 

A simple pair of black glasses. 

Kara’s jaw dropped only to snap shut again with a click. “I…” But what was she supposed to say to that? 

“You will probably need this,” Lena said coolly, and Kara accepted the glasses without a word. “See you tomorrow then?” 

“Tomorrow?” Kara looked up, her arm hanging loose at her side, glasses creaking in her clenched fist. 

“For our talk.” Lena raised an eyebrow. “Right?” There was a challenge implicit in her tone, practically daring Kara to try and deny it. 

“… Right,” Kara released in a slow exhale. 

“All right then,” Lena said, smirking once more. “Good night, Supergirl.” 

“Good night, Miss… Lena,” Kara all but mumbled, swiftly making her way back to the balcony to finally, _finally_ take her leave. 

(Oh, Alex was _so_ going to kill her.)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this real-plot-less story. 
> 
> This was mostly written to offset the angst in my other story, [The AU au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15146159/chapters/35123261), which you should totally check out if you haven't already (: 
> 
> Come bother me @whythinktoomuch on tumblr.


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